430. Night Banquet at the Royal Palace (Part 2)

After a round of singing and dancing, envoys from various countries came forward to present their gifts. The gifts from the Prince Ding's palace were naturally quite conventional, with treasures that symbolized peace and happiness, and some interesting things among them. However, the gifts from the envoys of various countries were different. Not only did they show off their own country's treasures, but they also had the intention of competing with other countries.

Beirong had just fought a horrific battle with Prince Ding's Palace, resulting in heavy casualties. However, Beirong was the country most eager to repair relations with Prince Ding's Palace, so Beirong was the first country to present gifts, and the gifts they presented were not ordinary. As soon as the two boxes brought by the Beirong envoy were opened, the things inside really surprised everyone present. In a cage on the left was a snow-white fox with no hair, and a cute and lovely appearance. In a box on the other side, there was indeed a large green lotus. Although the lotus had been picked, it was still in full bloom in a box carved from cold jade, as if it had just been picked from a pond. Next to the lotus flower is a green lotus pod.

It was fine for others, but when Shen Yang and Doctor Lin, who were sitting below, saw the things in the jade box, their eyes suddenly lit up.

Yelu Hong smiled and said, "These are the treasures of our Beirong, the Blue-eyed Snow Fox and the Fiery Lotus. I would like to use them to wish the young master and the little princess a happy birthday." Everyone was amazed. Needless to say, the Fiery Lotus really has some origins with the Dingwang Mansion. There was even a time when Mo Xiuyao's life depended on this lotus. But after Ye Li found the Azure Flower, which could replace it, she no longer mentioned the Fiery Lotus, which was difficult to pick. But the role of the Fiery Lotus is not just as simple as an antidote for cold poison. If it falls into the hands of a genius doctor like Shen Yang, the effect will not be much worse than that of the Azure Flower.

As for the Blue-eyed Snow Fox, it is known as the most precious treasure of the Northern Rong. Even in the Northern Rong country, it is rarely seen. It is said that it lives on the top of the snow mountain in the extreme west of the Northern Rong, just like the Fiery Lotus. For ordinary people, just one look at it is already a great honor. And the fur of the Blue-eyed Snow Fox is even more priceless in the Western Regions. The Blue-eyed Snow Fox is not only smart and cute, but also its fur, flesh and blood are all treasures. The people in the Central Plains are fine, and many envoys from the Western Regions are envious of the little fox in the white jade cage.

Ye Li smiled slightly and nodded, "Thank you, Prince Yelu, for your concern. Xin'er will definitely like the gift from His Royal Highness." Although Xin'er is still young and should not be close to pets, this blue-eyed snow fox is also young. In a few years, when Xin'er grows up, it will be a good companion.

Yelu Hong smiled and said, "How could that be? On behalf of my father, I congratulate Prince Ding and the Princess, and I also hope that our two countries will live in peace and prosperity from now on." Mo Xiuyao smiled calmly and said, "I offer a toast to the Crown Prince."

Yelu Hong nodded, raised his glass and said with a smile: "It should be the little prince who toasts the prince, please."

Everyone present knew that Prince Ding's Mansion and Northern Rong had already signed a peace agreement, and Yelu Hong's statement was just for the envoys present. It meant that the dispute with Prince Ding's Mansion would end here. After all, Northern Rong was weakened by Prince Ding's Mansion, and there were many small countries in the west eyeing it covetously. In this world, no one could live a peaceful life easily.

Afterwards, Lei Tengfeng and Mo Jingyu also stepped forward to present their gifts. They were all rare treasures in the world. Although the whereabouts of the little prince were still unknown, Princess Anxi and Pu'a also presented their gifts appropriately. However, given the friendship between Princess Anxi, Prince Ding's Mansion and the Xu family, the gifts they presented were naturally not as calculated and scheming as those of others. They only presented a few precious specialties of Nanzhao.

Later, the gifts sent by the envoys from the Western Regions were even more bizarre, many of which were things that the people of the Central Plains had never seen before, which naturally opened the eyes of many people. Although Prince Ding had no intention of ascending the throne to become emperor, there was already a sense of congratulations from all over the world.

In the midst of the singing and dancing, one of the guests below suddenly covered his abdomen and groaned in pain. Soon, it spread like a plague and more than half of the people in the hall had collapsed. After a while, the remaining half also collapsed. Everyone seemed to have their bones pulled out, lying limply on the ground and unable to move. Only Mo Xiuyao, who had the most profound skills, was still sitting steadily, but his face was not very good.

"Prince Ding, what's going on?!" The envoys from the Western Regions obviously did not expect to encounter such a thing. They looked at Mo Xiuyao who was sitting in the hall with vigilance, thinking that the people from the Central Plains had some tricks. However, when they saw that the confidants of the Xu family and Prince Ding's mansion also fell down in the hall, they could not help but become more confused and bewildered.

Mo Xiuyao sat in a wide chair, holding Ye Li who was leaning on him with one hand, and said calmly: "I also want to know what's going on. Mo Jingli, why don't you come out?"

"Hahaha! Mo Xiuyao, you finally fell into my hands!" At the entrance of the hall, a man in a bright yellow dragon robe rushed in, looking at the guests who were lying in the hall with a smug look on his face. Mo Jingli waved his hand, and many men in black night clothes holding swords rushed in and surrounded the entire hall.

Mo Jingli walked to the center of the hall with pride, and looked up at Mo Xiuyao. His imperial robe shone brightly under the candlelight. Except for his pale face, Mo Jingli really looked like an emperor. "Mo Xiuyao, you didn't expect it. The mantis stalks the cicada, while the oriole is waiting behind... In the end, I am the winner."

Mo Xiuyao looked at his smug face calmly and said calmly, "I don't see what you have to be proud of."

Mo Jingli sneered, "Mo Xiuyao, you don't have to pretend to scare me. Can you still move now? The higher the skill of my Chenxiangzui, the deeper the poison of the person. If you can still move, would you still sit there and talk to me?"

Mo Xiuyao lowered his eyes and smiled, "In that case, why don't you come up and try it?"

Mo Jingli's eyes narrowed, and he stared at Mo Xiuyao warily for a long time before he laughed and said, "You're right, I don't dare to come up. So you don't have to provoke me. I can kill you without coming up!" Mo Xiuyao nodded and said, "So, the so-called King of Chu is a waste that even people who have lost all their internal strength are afraid of? No wonder the Queen Mother and the ministers of the Great Chu want to abolish you. If it were me, I would have abolished you eight hundred years ago. Compared with Mo Jingqi, you are still far behind."

Mo Jingli's eyes flashed with anger. If he hated Mo Xiuyao the most in his life, what he hated the most was that someone said he was not as good as Mo Jingqi. He could admit that he was not as good as Mo Xiuyao, but he never thought that he was not as good as Mo Jingqi. "What? It's a pity that he died, and you will die soon. The winner is the king and the loser is the truth of the world. A hundred years later, people in the world will not think that they are not as good as you. They will only know that I defeated Mo Jingqi and you, Mo Xiuyao. I am the real number one in the world!"

While talking about his pride, Mo Jingli did not forget to look at Ye Li beside Mo Xiuyao and said with a smile: "Ye Li, don't you think so?"

Ye Li looked at him calmly and said calmly: "If you think so, then take it as so." It was just a calm sentence, but the expression on Mo Jingli's face changed three times in an instant. Because Ye Li's words and tone were like telling a madman that everything you said was right.

"Ye Li, come down and I can spare your life. Don't try to be so fancy. Your internal energy is not strong. Even if it takes some effort, you are not unable to move." Mo Jingli stared at Ye Li and said in a deep voice.

Mo Xiuyao held Ye Li's waist, looked at Mo Jingli with a cold gleam in his eyes, and said, "You don't have to worry about Ah Li's life. If you have this free time, you should worry about yourself. Or...is the lesson I gave you not enough?"

Mo Jingli was stunned, and his expression twisted strangely as if he remembered something. After a long while, he finally laughed out loud, pointed at Mo Xiuyao and said in a stern voice: "Mo Xiuyao, you are still so arrogant. Now, you can't even save your own life. How can you save Ye Li? I will make you die ugly today! Ye Li, come here... I can forgive all the things that happened in the past."

Ye Li raised her eyes, looked at him and said calmly: "How come I don't know what happened that you need to let bygones be bygones?"

Mo Jingli's eyes flashed with a hint of viciousness, "Do you think Mo Xiuyao can still protect you now?"

Ye Li smiled faintly and said nothing. She leaned quietly on Mo Xiuyao's shoulder and ignored Mo Jingli.

Mo Xiuyao held Ye Li's waist with one hand, and played with the wine glass in his hand with the other hand. He looked at Mo Jingli and said, "I am very curious about how you poisoned her." In Prince Ding's mansion, it is definitely not an easy thing to poison someone. Otherwise, the people in Prince Ding's mansion would have been poisoned hundreds of times. "In the wine? No... People who didn't drink were poisoned too. It was... in the candles."

Mo Jingli's eyes flashed, and he smiled and said, "Prince Ding is indeed quick-witted. It's worth the effort I put into finding this colorless and odorless agarwood intoxicant. It's a pity... Prince Ding doesn't know about it now. Doesn't he think it's too late?"

Mo Xiuyao shook his head and said, "Even so, your people alone can't do it. Who else... stand up yourself. Let me see who are the people who dare to do something behind my back."

The hall was silent, no one stood up. Such a scene made Mo Jingli feel humiliated. These people helped him secretly, but now that Mo Xiuyao was dying, these people still didn't dare to stand up and stand behind him openly. Mo Jingli didn't know that in the eyes of these people, unless they saw the head and body of Prince Ding separated with their own eyes, few of them would have the courage to stand up and openly betray Prince Ding's mansion.

"Mo Xiuyao has been poisoned, what are you afraid of?" Mo Jingli said coldly, looking at the people present with a threatening look. After a while, one person stood up, and then another... After a while, there were more than a dozen people standing up. Among them, there were heads of famous families who were not given important positions, officials in office, and a former general of the Great Chu who surrendered to the Mo Family Army. It was obvious that these people were pretending to be poisoned just now.

Mo Xiuyao glanced at these people calmly, and finally fell on Mo Jingyu who was still lying on the side, and said calmly: "King Yu, you should get up too." Mo Jingyu was stunned, and finally stood up with a slight sigh.

Mo Jingli looked at him with great pride and said with a smile: "Mo Xiuyao, did you see that? Do you think everyone will be loyal to you and afraid of you? Aren't there so many people who betray you now?"

Mo Xiu Yao said calmly: "Betrayal? I never planned to use them, so how can it be considered betrayal? They are just a bunch of garbage, you can take them if you like. Otherwise, you can ask them if they know any secrets of Prince Ding's Mansion, or any military intelligence of the Mo family army? Or... even if I die now, do they have a way to send you out of Li City alive?" After hearing what Mo Xiu Yao said, the faces of the people who stood up suddenly became even more embarrassed.

Mo Jingli's expression changed, and he sneered, "Since I dared to enter Prince Ding's mansion, I had no intention of leaving alive. But if I can drag you, Mo Xiuyao, and so many people present to be buried with me, it would be worth it if I died."

"Then congratulations." Mo Xiuyao said insincerely.

Mo Jingli stared at Mo Xiuyao sitting there with some annoyance, and a feeling of powerlessness that made him feel disgusted came over him. It had been like this since he was a child, as if he could never get the upper hand in front of Mo Xiuyao. No matter how bad Mo Xiuyao's situation was, no matter how dangerous it was, it seemed that he would always be the loser. If he had the strength of Ling Tiehan or even Mu Qingcang, he could rush forward and give Mo Xiuyao a sword right now. But even in this situation, he still didn't dare to get close to Mo Xiuyao. He was afraid of Mo Xiuyao, Mo Jingli had to admit it in his heart, and this was a fact that he was ashamed to admit.

"Kill him for me!" Looking at Mo Xiuyao's calm and composed appearance, Mo Jingli became more and more annoyed, and suddenly lost his patience and said.

A man in black stepped forward and walked towards the palace with some caution. However, seeing that Mo Xiuyao did not react, he became more confident that Mo Xiuyao was poisoned, and took a few steps forward with courage. The man's eyes twitched a few times with excitement. To kill Prince Ding with his own hands, no one would be calm. Finally, he drew his sword and slashed at Mo Xiuyao. No one saw Mo Xiuyao's move, but heard the man in black scream, was thrown down from the palace, and fell to the ground vomiting blood. It was obvious that he was shocked by the internal force of a person with extremely high internal force.

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Mo Xiuyao was safe and sound, they didn't know whether to feel relieved or regretful.

Mo Jingli's expression became even uglier, "You are not poisoned?"

Mo Xiuyao ignored Mo Jingli's questioning and said calmly: "You can't kill me, now, what do you want to do?" Mo Jingli's face was extremely ugly, and after a long while he sneered: "So what if you can't kill them? I don't believe that they are not poisoned like you! Kill them all!"

The men in black who came with Mo Jingli were all desperate criminals who knew they were going to die. When they heard Mo Jingli's order, they didn't care about the identities of the guests present and just drew their swords and started chopping.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!" Countless feather arrows flew through the air, and at the same time, the guests stood up one after another. Those who knew martial arts stood up and fought back, while those who didn't knew martial arts dodged one after another. But in a moment, the black-clothed people brought by Mo Jingli fell to the ground. They were not subdued by the guests present, but fell to the ground like the previous guests.

"This...what's going on?" Mo Jingli said angrily. Although he was not completely poisoned, everyone around him, including Mo Jingyu, was not spared.

"How dare you use such a trivial trick like Chenxiang Zui to show off your shame!" Shen Yang's voice came faintly from a corner of the hall, "Chenxiang Zui is indeed a very good drug, colorless and tasteless, can be put into water, and can be burned. It's a pity that the antidote is also easy to find. And... the most common antidote is ice magnolia. But... if you have taken the antidote made from agarwood fruit beforehand, and then smell the ice magnolia, it will become another kind of poison."

Only then did everyone realize that the flowers used for makeup around the hall tonight were all orchids, and more than half of them were ice magnolias. However, ice magnolias are a type of orchid with very small flowers, and if you don't look carefully, you can't see them at all when they are mixed with many famous orchids.

Mo Jingli's face turned black, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Shen Yang! As expected, you ruined my good thing again!"

Shen Yang smiled and said, "Prince Li gave me a great reward. It was just a coincidence."

What a coincidence! How could such a coincidence happen in the world? Mo Xiuyao clearly knew his plan long ago, and even knew exactly what poison he was going to use.

"Prince Ding is really good at this. In order to catch me, he is willing to risk the lives of so many guests." Mo Jingli gritted his teeth and said. If he had just come in and just hacked at everyone without caring about anything, even if Mo Xiuyao had someone protecting him secretly, it would be impossible for him to protect everyone. Sure enough, when these words came out, the faces of the guests present all turned ugly. It was none of their business if Prince Ding wanted to catch Mo Jingli, but it would be too much if he used their lives as bait.

"Prince Ding, what do you mean?" The Western Regions envoy knew the least about Mo Xiuyao and was the first to question.

Mo Xiuyao smiled calmly and said, "I'm sorry to have startled you all, but... the singing and dancing are boring, so please just watch a good show. I promise that no one will be hurt."

"What guarantee does Prince Ding have?!" someone asked sharply.

"Since no one is injured, what do you think, Prince Zhennan, Prince Yelu, Queen Nanzhao, Princess Helan?" Mo Xiuyao asked with a smile. Lei Tengfeng sighed and said, "I'm willing to admit defeat. I'm convinced that Prince Ding is smart."

Yelu Hong was more direct, "Your Highness, admit defeat. I will give you another thousand horses." Since the horses had already been given, it didn't matter whether it was 10,000 or 11,000. Yelu Hong thought he could afford to lose.

Princess Anxi was worried about her child, so she nodded slightly and said, "I am convinced too."

Princess Helan blinked her eyes and chuckled. Suddenly, everyone's eyes lit up and shone brightly. "It is said that the people of the Central Plains are very smart, and Prince Ding is the smartest among them. This princess is convinced. Within two years, I will charge you 20% less for the furs and medicinal materials that I, Beirong, trade to Prince Ding's mansion."